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Ex-Georgia militia member takes stand

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A former Georgia militia member testified Thursday that he never touched a weapon in a rural East Tennessee town on the day federal prosecutors say he traveled there armed with the intent of making citizen’s arrests of judges and other officials.

Darren Wesley Huff of Dallas, Ga., took the witness stand on the third day of his trial on two weapons charges.

Prosecutors who will cross-examine him Friday contend Huff drove to the Monroe County Courthouse in Madisonville with a handgun and an AK-47 on April 20, 2010, after threatening to take over the city and courthouse.

Huff said that as a member of the Oath Keepers organization he was supporting a local activist and had no intention to take over anything or use violence. He said the Colt .45 and assault rifle were never removed from a toolbox on his pickup truck after his arrival was met with a huge turnout of law officers.

His attorney, Scott Green, said Huff is a big talker and “not the scary guy they have been trying to paint” him.

Huff traveled with a document he claimed was a “citizen’s arrest warrant” bearing the officials’ names, saying they were domestic enemies and that they had been charged with treason.

Court records show the former owner of an outdoor lighting business was involved with others in the courthouse takeover plot in part because they were upset over questions about President Barack Obama’s citizenship.

Huff faces two firearms charges. If convicted of both, he could face up to seven years in prison.

— Associated Press

Answering questions from his attorney, Huff said he told an FBI agent who showed up at his house the day before the trip that he had a permit to carry weapons and planned to take them with him the next day when he went to Tennessee.

Jurors earlier Thursday watched a video of Huff, 41, chatting about religion and guns with officers who stopped him on the way.

A law enforcement dash cam video showed Huff spending more than an hour with officers who pulled him over and gave him a warning for following too closely on April 20, 2010. That was hours before he arrived in Madisonville.

“I like ya’ll,” Huff told the officers in the recording.

Huff’s wife, Cyndi, testified Thursday that an FBI agent came to their house the day before her husband made the trip to Tennessee and they discussed his plans.

Huff said he and about 15 others who traveled to the town between Knoxville and Chattanooga went to show support for the activist, Walter Fitzpatrick, who had a court hearing that day.

“We were going up to protest anyway,” Huff said.

Huff told FBI agents he wanted to help Fitzpatrick, a military retiree who weeks earlier was arrested after he tried to make a citizen’s arrest of the grand jury foreman for refusing to indict the president. Fitzpatrick, who became hostile to the government two decades ago when he faced a court-martial, is in custody.

Huff identified himself as the chaplain of the Georgia militia group when he was pulled over.

In pretrial filings, Huff asked the court to block prosecutors from making any comment about the Oath Keepers and militia groups kicking him out days after the trip to Tennessee. U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan said he would have a decision on Friday.

Questions about Obama’s citizenship have been raised by so-called “birthers.” They claimed there’s no proof Obama was born in the United States, and he is therefore ineligible to be president. Hawaii officials have certified Obama was born in that state and the U.S. Supreme Court has turned away a challenge to the president’s citizenship.